


Kingdom Come

by IAmWhelmed



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Adventure, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 20:29:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8682316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmWhelmed/pseuds/IAmWhelmed
Summary: Coming to the conclusion that Marco isn't going to help her, Star finds company in a prince she used to be on friendlyish terms with. He agrees to not only hide her from her parents, but to lend her his horses and men; there's just one condition-- when all of this is over, when Ludo is defeated, Star has to marry him. Meanwhile, Marco begins unintentionally tearing his world apart looking for Star, and Jackie can only keep him grounded for so long. Maybe she's not the person for the job?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure I’m going to continue this. I might if people like it. Intended to be a chapter fic, but can be open-ended if I end up leaving it as a oneshot! ^_^

The hallway was bright enough that Star had to wince to see much of anything clearly. She wasn’t sure if it was the natural sunlight of this planet, or maybe the artificial bulbs lit well above her head, but either way the room could use some curtains. She glanced to her left where the wall-wide windows sat, noticing the blue curtains pulled aside in favor of letting the burning sun inside.

Star rubbed at her eyes and only narrowly avoided knocking over one of the busts off their pillar.

The double doors at the end were just as tall as the windows, white doors adorned with golden edges and knobs. The guards that’d stood to either side of her reached forward, jostling the handle down and pushing their respective doors inward. To see a much larger, thus lightly dimmed, room was a relief, and she felt she could finally let her hands fall from the crevices of her burning eyes. She followed the lengthy blue carpet to the middle of the throne room, eyeing the gilded rims as her eyes strayed to the chair atop a small staircase. There, overlooking the castle, was a boy no older than her, with white hair as bright as the lights outside and green eyes that narrowed at the grapes he picked meticulously off of the vine he fiddled. He sat horizontally along his throne, ankles crossed over one armrest, lower back nestled into the other. Star blinked and took a deep breath…

… then let it all out.

“BRENDAN~!”

He seemed to leap from his seat, eyes wide as the grapes he’d sat in his lap went spilling everywhere in all directions. He yelped and sat up straight, coughing into his hand. “Princess Butterfly! What-?” He coughed again, turning his head away so as to not disgust the lady. Joke was on him: Star was no lady. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, nothing much!” His green eyes seemed to pierce her, and she subconsciously toyed with the edge of her skirt, her own eyes shifting to avoid direct contact.

“Didn’t Queen Butterfly boot you out of your own kingdom?”

Star snorted and waved one hand, glancing at the ceiling far above her head. “Nah! I wasn’t… booted, per say, but that’s a conversation for another time!” Her mind briefly flashed back to Marco, to Jackie and Janna and Ferguson and Bon Bon and—stop. Star sighed and straightened up, letting her smile fall because it’d been a façade the entire time anyway. “Actually, Brendan, I have a favor I need to ask of you…”

He leaned forward, elbows at his legs, hands clasped together. “Anything. Say the word.” He said that, but she could hear the trepidation in his voice, see the hesitation itching at his ear.

“Well,” she rubbed at her arm. Telling him about a stolen family heirloom probably wasn’t a great idea; she knew him, but not well enough. There was always a risk that he would try to steal it himself. She couldn’t risk that. “I think my kingdom is in danger. Honestly? I can’t tell you why, but I need a place to hide out for a little while, just until I figure out a plan.”

Brendan hummed, a small frown tugging at his lips as his eyes narrowed almost quizzically. She felt nervous in front of him, as though he was seeing right through her, reading her like a dictionary. He couldn’t remember her that well, could he?

Brendan readjusted so that his elbows sat against the armrest, chin laid against the backs of his fingers. “I don’t know, Princess. You haven’t given me enough information to trust you…”

“Oh, come on!” Star clasped her hands together, leaning forward to show just how desperate she was. She’d get down on her knees and beg if she had to! “We’ve known each other since we were little baby warriors on our toy warnicorns! We smashed the play pen together! You have to help me! Please~? Please! Please!”

Brendan huffed and crossed his arms, eyes darting from side to side as he thought her favor over. She felt her body shivering in anticipation, knees so close to buckling she was unsure if she’d ever been so nervous. If he wouldn’t help her, than she had nowhere else to go! What would she do? She couldn’t go to Tom—she’d feel like she was playing with him, like she’d give him undue hope. She couldn’t go back home and she couldn’t go back… She let all of the hot air building in her chest out through her nose, savoring the calming feeling subtly evoked in her brutally pounding heart.

“Well… I’ll tell you what: You can stay here undercover as one of the” he shivered and stuck his tongue out “potential wives my court keeps setting me up with. Like we need a queen that badly!” It was a sour topic for him, she noticed, as the corner of his lips near snarled at the chestnut risers where the court would usually meet. He seemed to decide it wasn’t the time to vent, so he sighed and turned his attention back to her. “They come and go every week or so—would you have a plan in seven days?”

Externally she was curtsying, thanking him before he was even done talking. Internally, she was nearly weeping in relief; she could get Glossaryck back now—she had a will and she had a way. “You know me!” She joked. “The battlefield if my calling…!”

“I’ll also throw in a small portion of my army to fight under your command. Since you’re coming to me, I’m assuming Mewni soldiers are out of the question.” She squealed and started hopping up and down, eyes wide and stomach flipping out of sheer joy. A place to hide was one thing, a whole—well, small—army under her control alone was an entirely different thing! She began to thank him amply, barring her pearly whites as wide as her lips could part to show him just how thankful she was. “And if you’re going to hide here, we’re going to have to do something about those Butterfly family heirloom marks on your cheeks, maybe something about your hair too. How does brown sound? Red? Black?”

Star frowned and tucked a strand of her hair between her fingers. “But I like my hair blonde…” Then again, he was probably right. Hiding in plain sight was only going to work if she didn’t, ya know, look like Star Butterfly. Even if she was dressed entirely in rags or covered in dust, somebody like Marco would always be able to spot her. She felt her chest seize at the thought of him again, heart tight like a corset wound as far as it could go.

“There’s one more thing, too.”

She glanced back up at Brendan, who sat straight again with a smile so kind she couldn’t help but feel a fresh wave of gratefulness. “Anything!”

“Well, when all of this is over…” He leaned forward again and gave her his best princely smile, the one she remembered him using all the time on civilian children when he’d do something stupid, like punt their ball across the kingdom by mistake that one time. Star smiled back at him, one eyebrow raised as she awaited his proposed deal. He clasped his hands together again. “I’ll need you to marry me for real…”

 

She wasn’t annoyed with Marco, she swore it—Marco’s lovey dovey relationship with Jackie, on the other hand? Yeah, she was just a tad annoyed by that.

He was in the middle of telling Jackie about one of their adventures, adamantly explaining (with his hands) the dynamics of a human vs huge man-eating worm battle. He was right about to mention how they knocked the darn thing down a peg when he stuck his own meatball in his eye, wincing and yelping as he dropped his fork back onto his plate. Jackie laughed, and he laughed too. Star bit back a snort and took a long, aggressive sip of her milk. Janna shot her a comforting raise of her brow, and though the sly support helped, the gross feeling in her chest still seemed insistent on sticking around.

“Wow, Marco… Star’s really made your life exciting, hasn’t she?”

Jackie’s “sea foam blue, sparkling” eyes met Star’s, and she forced herself to smile back because it was stupid to let them know just how irritated and itchy her body was feeling right then.

“Well, I didn’t do much…” She laughed, but even she could tell that her voice was bordering on cracking. She sounded nervous, not necessarily as wrecked as she felt, but well on the way there. “I just gave Marco a reason to be, well, Marco!”

Marco glanced over his shoulder, eyes set her way with that warm smile she was beginning to realize made her stomach twist and turn and flip like pancakes. She watched as he turned his attention back to Jackie, one of his hands cupping hers underneath the table, squeezing her fingers like he was afraid the next time he let go would be the last. Star glanced down at her own hand briefly.

“Gave me a reason to buck up and face you…”

Jackie chuckled and nudged Marco with her elbow—gently, like she was flirting. Star swallowed back the treacherous thought that she was, and if she was, it was working.

“Ohh my gooood!” Janna groaned and threw her head back. “Would you two please get a room?”

Star cringed at the harmony of their melded laughter and the coyness of their apologies, feeling uneasy from her toes to her shoulders. It was stupid, she told herself; Marco was her best friend. She needed to be happy for him.

Be. Happy.

Jackie stood up, reaching to grab her skateboard with one hand and tossing her bag over her shoulder with the other. “I’ve gotta get to my locker before the bell rings. Left my textbook in there last bell on accident.”

Star counted down from three to zero silently, under her breath, just loud enough for Janna to hear. Marco stood right on count, so suddenly the trays on their lunch table clattered. “I’ll walk you there!”

“Dude, Jackie can get to her locker by herself.” She wasn’t sure if Janna was just ribbing the new couple, or if it was her small way of letting Star know she understood, that she was on her side. Were there sides? There shouldn’t have been sides. She should have been on Marco’s side. This was wrong.

Marco rubbed at the nape of his neck, eyes falling somewhere to the side. “I know that! I just…”

Jackie laughed again, and placed a single chaste kiss to his cheek. It was their standard greeting and their standard goodbye. Star loved it when Jackie left, but she hated watching her go. “I’ll see you later tonight.” Marco’s face went as red as his sweater, eyes wide and fiery as one of Star’s more “heated” spells. He didn’t make one move until Jackie had already given him one last glance over her shoulder as she skated out the doors to their cafeteria. He chuckled to himself, slowly and painfully, and then he sighed softer than Star thought was normal for him.

“Hey, Marco?” The nervousness still pinched at her voice, still took every word she said and challenged her resolve. “What did she mean by see you later tonight?”

“Oh, we’re just going to see a movie. There’s this new horror called _Down the Bloody Suburb_ and Jackie really wants to see it.”

She should have known. Star set her sandwich down mid bite, mustering up every bit of willpower she had to give him a smile that wasn’t mildly threatening. She might have felt like grabbing him by his collar and shaking his head clean of whatever fog was clouding his common sense, but good friends didn’t do that; good friends kept their mouths shut to keep their best friend happy, even when it hurt. “You, uh, know it’s Thursday, right?”

Just as usual, Marco went into hysterics. “Oh my gosh, Star! I’m so sorry! I didn’t even realize-! This is, like, the third time this month-!”

“It’s okay, Marco!” She didn’t need to strain to fake that line; she’d rehearsed it too many times, said it too many times, to sound like anything but a broken record. She didn’t cringe or grimace when she said it, and the words hardly registered as anything mildly wounding anymore. “Just let me know before Thursday hits next time, kay~?”

Marco frowned, hands still clutching at his thick strands of precisely groomed hair, nose still scrunched and eyes still wide. “Are you sure?”

“Yep!”

“Are you sure you’re sure?”

“Yes…”

“Are you-?”

She gripped him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down to eye level. “Yes, Marco Diaz! I am sure I’m sure I’m sure!” She gave him a steady hand to the back, just about knocking him forward off his feet. She made a mental note to dial it down—too much enthusiasm and he’d know something was up. “Enjoy your date with Jackie! I’ll be waiting to hear all about it when you get home!”

“Star,” Marco reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her close enough that she could feel the quick but steady beat of his heart. It made her cheeks blister, but she wasn’t sure Marco noticed. “You are the best! Thank you so much!” She wanted to reach out and take a handful of his sweater, pull him closer and keep him there with her until she didn’t feel so dejected anymore, but he was off with his tray in one hand and a pumped fist in the other. “I’ll catch ya later!”

“Okay Star, do you wanna tell me why you keep letting him off so easy?” Janna gestured to the mess that was Marco, tripping over his own two feet and stumbling into strangers just from his way from the table to the trashcans. Her hazel eyes narrowed and darted from their mutual friend to her, fingers wrenching open and shut to communicate just how irritated she was with the situation. No more irritated than she was, Star was betting. “This is, like, the third or fourth time he’s canceled on you!”

“I don’t know!” That was the honest truth. There really was no good reason for it. She was right to be mad; she knew it and Marco knew it. So why did she keep playing it off like she wasn’t ready to pull her hair out? “I guess I’m just hoping that he’ll eventually, ya know, pick me? Or something?” She folded her hands in her lap, fingers twisting around the material of her dress. “I mean, I know I’m not his girlfriend, but he’s gotta choose to spend time with me eventually, right?”

“I don’t know, Star…” Janna took a long sip of her milk and wiped the resulting mustache away with the sleeve of her jacket. The thumb of her open hand pointed to where Marco had been headed. “Does that look like a guy who’s gonna ditch his girlfriend any time soon?”

A quick glance in Marco’s general direction proved that he was having a hard time getting out the cafeteria doors, too in a daze to really do much pushing to get through. His eyes were as soft as the butts of their laser puppies and his cheeks were as red as their, well, lasers. His body had seemed to somehow become akin to jello, because the way he moved just didn’t look human.

Star nibbled at her bottom lip, reaching up and tugging at the ends of her hair.

 

The living room felt darker than usual, stark black against the bright blue lights of the b-rated movie she’d clicked on. She wasn’t sure what was happening. Actually, she didn’t even know that names of any of the characters on screen—she knew faces. There was one girl with a button nose and wide green eyes that could melt the coldest of hearts, tan skin like white against red compared to the dyed olive of her hair. She was one of two love interests, but Star had the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her the childhood friend with blue eyes wouldn’t walk away with anything but a less-than-whole heart. The male lead was likeable in all respects, but for some reason Star still wanted to reach into the screen and slap that adorable goofy grin right off his face.

She huffed.

She’d had the picture from the dance on her phone all night, eyes running over Marco’s nervous hands and the squint of his eyes over and over again. Then, she’d trace Jackie’s form—the way the dress sat on her, the curl of her hair, and the coolness of her grin. It hurt, and she knew she was doing it to herself. She was dwelling on it, on her stupid imagination and letting it get miles and miles ahead of her.

“Jackie and I got to the movie late, so we’re gonna wait for the next showing. Will be home later than usual.”

The text that came in made it harder to breath, made it harder to sit there and watch the green-eyed girl get the boy again and again no matter what the other girl did. Anger, irritation, whichever, grew hot in the pit of her stomach, reaching up to her throat and taking hold of it. Her wand, which she’d had gripped firmly in her other hand, turned green in a near instant. Before Star could even recognize that she was slipping into the depths of jealousy again, her wand had gone off and shattered the TV.

Star choked on her own air, leaping up from her seat on the couch to inspect the damage she’d done. Irreparable, she knew, but it didn’t hurt to check. With her wand still clutched in her shaking hand, Star used the other to run cautious fingers along the jagged edges of what was once the best TV known to man—to her and Marco, anyway.

The green feeling took over again, swallowing up that instinctual fear of her own abilities and perhaps repercussions for the TV.

Star glanced down at the wand and, upon finding that it was lighting up as neon as a Christmas tree, tossed it across the living room where it couldn’t feel her anymore. A growl itched at her tongue and she swiped her cellphone off the table with an irritation and pain she was still unnerved was in her, body shaking but fingers stubbornly steady.

Was she just a stepping stone to Jackie? Common sense told her no, that her friendship with Marco was about as real as it came, but some traitorous inkling in the back of her mind echoed: _If he really cared about you, he would have canceled his plans with Jackie anyway. He would be here right now._

“Glossaryck?” She knew there wouldn’t be an answer. “What am I supposed to do?” Her legs carried her over to her wand again, quivering because everything she was feeling was so new but so incredibly painful. She tried to bend down, but her legs only gave out, and she plopped to the ground on her knees and reached for her wand again. “How am I supposed to save you if Marco’s never even here anymore?”

Her eyes were burning again, but she wasn’t about to cry in a pitch dark room on a Thursday night like a weirdo. She turned the wand in her hands, stopping when the half star met her gaze. She could see herself in its reflection, and she looked like a mess. She tugged at her matted hair, blinked her blood red eyes, and rubbed at the dark circles below them. _Look at you. You look pathetic, Star Butterfly! Get a hold of yourself!_ She pushed herself off the floor, shut her cellphone, and tossed it behind her to where she assumed the couch was. When she heard a plop and then a crash, she noted that she had been semi-accurate. “If Marco won’t help you, then you’ve gotta do it yourself!” Inhale, exhale. “It’s up to me.”

_Plan of attack… well, I need one._

She didn’t think to fold any of her coats or leggings; she just tossed them all into the bag she’d emptied of some arts and crafts supplies from the Diaz broom closet.

_I can’t exactly go home—not unless I want to tell mom about Glossaryck, and we know that’s going to go over well, hah…_

She could create food for herself should she find her plan fails, she was sure. She vaguely remembered those emergency spells; Glossaryck had spent a whole day just going over culinary spells that one time. Not that she’d been paying attention… Even so, she took a few baggies of pretzels and gummies from the kitchen pantry and threw them in with the messy pile of clothes she’d accumulated.

_I can’t stay here. I’ll never get anything done if I’m moping around about my stupid crush forever and ever!_

When all was said and done, when she’d zipped the last zipper and clasped the last button, Star took another deep breath, thought about all of her emotions and fears and the apprehension that was threatening to stop her from doing anything, and breathed out.

_I’ve gotta get help from somewhere else-- somebody Marco doesn’t know and my parents wouldn’t expect._

With one last look over her shoulder, Star stepped through the portal she’d torn in the middle of her room.


End file.
